The agnostic sampling transceiver

Abstract: Increasing capacity demands in the access networks require inventive concepts for the transmission and distribution of digital as well as analog signals over the same network. Here a new transceiver system, which is completely agnostic for the signals to be transmitted is presented. Nyquist sampling and time multiplexing of N phase and intensity modulated digital and analog channels with one single modulator, as well as the transmission and demultiplexing with another modulator have been demonstrated. The aggregate symbol rate corresponds to the modulator bandwidth and can be further increased by a modification of the setup. No high-speed electronic signal processing or high bandwidth photonics is required. Apart from its simplicity and the possibility to process high bandwidth signals with low bandwidth electronics and photonics, the method has the potential to be easily integrated into any platform and thus, might be a solution for the increasing data rates in future access networks.